Donât punish bad pupils or they will feel left out, schools toldAlexandra Frean and Alexandra Blair
Schools should not âover disciplineâ persistently unruly pupils for fear of alienating them and should instead hand out praise five times more often than punishments, the Government has said.

New guidance on school discipline published yesterday cautions teachers against repeatedly praising only âthe same good pupilsâ, suggesting that rewards also be given to persistent miscreants who show an improvement in behaviour, however small. It cites research recommending a ârewards/sanctions ratio of at least 5:1â. Rewards might include âgood newsâ postcards sent home, âspecial privilegesâ or âprizesâ.

âStriking the right balance between rewarding pupils with consistently good behaviour and those achieving substantial improvement in their behaviour is important. This can help improve relations with parents who have become tired of receiving letters and phone calls when things go wrong,â the guidance states.

It also advises teachers to take account of pupilsâ race and culture when telling them off, suggesting that they go easy on those insubordinate youngsters for whom being âloudâ or âoverfamiliarâ may be a cultural norm or âsocial styleâ.

Teachers should understand the importance of showing respect to children from racial or religious backgrounds for whom public humiliation is seen as particularly shameful. In these cases, staff should not use language that might humiliate youngsters in front of their friends.

In other areas the guidance advocates a tougher approach, encouraging teachers to give Saturday and after-school detention and to punish pupils who make false allegations against teachers.

It has been published to accompany new legal powers enabling teachers to use âreasonable forceâ to restrain violent children, confiscate mobile phones and punish pupils for poor behaviour on their way to and from school.

But critics described the guidance as âsoftâ, stating that most teachers already knew how to use positive reinforcement techniques.

The document coincided yesterday with a threat of strikes by the National Union of Teachers unless schools speed up the process for expelling violent or abusive pupils.

David Willetts, the Shadow Education Secretary, said that the new guidance could be resented by pupils if it implied that bad behaviour brought rewards. He said that if school children could see badly behaved pupils being praised âthen the schoolâs policy would lose all credibilityâ.

Alan Smithers, Professor of Education at the University of Buckingham, said the move could encourage perverse behaviour. âChildren and parents will be quick to pick up on false praise. That simply devalues the use of encouraging words. The key thing is that it has to be honest feedback. As a soft approach it wonât work because children and their parents will soon pick up that itâs false.

âIf you reward the children who have been poorly behaved for behaving well you might actually be getting children who have been perfectly happy behaving well to behave badly in order to pick up the rewards.â

Robert Whelan, deputy director of the thinktank Civitas, said: âThe idea that teachers have to take account of a childâs ethnicity when disciplining them is racist. Itâs telling teachers they have to treat children differently according to their skin colour.â

MIA

"It also advises teachers to take account of pupilsâ race and culture when telling them off, suggesting that they go easy on those insubordinate youngsters for whom being âloudâ or âoverfamiliarâ may be a cultural norm or âsocial styleâ.

LE

LE

If they disrupt school lessons they get a prize, thhey get the day off.... It is called suspension.

If they collect enough prizes they get the biggy. No mor skool 4 eva, her ra.

That is called expulsion.

Simple really.

Somewhere someone said, that to bring up sons, a background in bringing up dogs really helped.

Bring back cast iron discipline, and like little puppies do, they will learn their place in society. Give them grey areas, and they will meander along not knowing what to do. Like little puppies. Also they will be scared and frightened. Like little puppies.

War Hero

How about this idea, " K==b about in my class again sonny and i will knock your teeth down your neck, sure bring your dad down the school he can have some as well".
That's what my Martial arts trained Geography teacher said, i got a good score in Geography. Mind you he wasn't talking to me, but it did make us concentrate.
The History teacher who was a hardcore weightlifter, he just used to punch you, no warning. He got respect though. Ipod's yeah sure the school Bully is just going to take them off them.................

LE

I don't suppose You right on posters will believe me but this approach actually works. I've seen it work, I've used the same approach myself.

It isn't bad behaviour that is rewarded, it is good behaviour. It was the ethos of a special school I worked at, one of discipline and reward. Behave well and You go up a ladder of rewards, behave badly and You lose the rewards and receive a punishment - but a punishment that fits the crime. So if a child uproots a plant in a fit of spite, You have him working in the potting shed for the next few days on His time off. The important thing is to go to the child as soon as He or She has calmed down and reinforce the reason for the sanction and give the child a way of coping with the negative feeling that caused Him to misbehave.

No doubt You gainsayers will smirk but the school had some fantastic results, this in a previously mining area where parents weren't exactly backwards about coming forwards with their fists to punish their children

LE

I don't suppose You right on posters will believe me but this approach actually works. I've seen it work, I've used the same approach myself.

It isn't bad behaviour that is rewarded, it is good behaviour. It was the ethos of a special school I worked at, one of discipline and reward. Behave well and You go up a ladder of rewards, behave badly and You lose the rewards and receive a punishment - but a punishment that fits the crime. So if a child uproots a plant in a fit of spite, You have him working in the potting shed for the next few days on His time off. The important thing is to go to the child as soon as He or She has calmed down and reinforce the reason for the sanction and give the child a way of coping with the negative feeling that caused Him to misbehave.

No doubt You gainsayers will smirk but the school had some fantastic results, this in a previously mining area where parents weren't exactly backwards about coming forwards with their fists to punish their children

LE

LE

I don't suppose You right on posters will believe me but this approach actually works. I've seen it work, I've used the same approach myself.

It isn't bad behaviour that is rewarded, it is good behaviour. It was the ethos of a special school I worked at, one of discipline and reward. Behave well and You go up a ladder of rewards, behave badly and You lose the rewards and receive a punishment - but a punishment that fits the crime. So if a child uproots a plant in a fit of spite, You have him working in the potting shed for the next few days on His time off. The important thing is to go to the child as soon as He or She has calmed down and reinforce the reason for the sanction and give the child a way of coping with the negative feeling that caused Him to misbehave.

No doubt You gainsayers will smirk but the school had some fantastic results, this in a previously mining area where parents weren't exactly backwards about coming forwards with their fists to punish their children

LE

LE

Humblest apologies Sven. I stand corrected, what you're saying is in fact the little scrotes get extra rewards for doing what they should do in the first place. Ahhh, bribery, the cornerstone of any good society!

LE

I don't suppose You right on posters will believe me but this approach actually works. I've seen it work, I've used the same approach myself.

It isn't bad behaviour that is rewarded, it is good behaviour. It was the ethos of a special school I worked at, one of discipline and reward. Behave well and You go up a ladder of rewards, behave badly and You lose the rewards and receive a punishment - but a punishment that fits the crime. So if a child uproots a plant in a fit of spite, You have him working in the potting shed for the next few days on His time off. The important thing is to go to the child as soon as He or She has calmed down and reinforce the reason for the sanction and give the child a way of coping with the negative feeling that caused Him to misbehave.

No doubt You gainsayers will smirk but the school had some fantastic results, this in a previously mining area where parents weren't exactly backwards about coming forwards with their fists to punish their children

Oh, I see what you did there; that subtle connection between a pic of Danger Mouse, and living in a rodent infested government work-house where you stand in danger of being accused of paedophilia at any time?

LE

I don't suppose You right on posters will believe me but this approach actually works. I've seen it work, I've used the same approach myself.

It isn't bad behaviour that is rewarded, it is good behaviour. It was the ethos of a special school I worked at, one of discipline and reward. Behave well and You go up a ladder of rewards, behave badly and You lose the rewards and receive a punishment - but a punishment that fits the crime. So if a child uproots a plant in a fit of spite, You have him working in the potting shed for the next few days on His time off. The important thing is to go to the child as soon as He or She has calmed down and reinforce the reason for the sanction and give the child a way of coping with the negative feeling that caused Him to misbehave.

No doubt You gainsayers will smirk but the school had some fantastic results, this in a previously mining area where parents weren't exactly backwards about coming forwards with their fists to punish their children

Oh, I see what you did there; that subtle connection between a pic of Danger Mouse, and living in a rodent infested government work-house where you stand in danger of being accused of paedophilia at any time?